"The ultimate thing that you're preventing is loss of life. When you start to sit there and think about the 8 to 12 percent and the people who might have died as a result of that, it's a sobering experience," Campbell said.

The program requires offenders to spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars.

Bauer estimates the total cost to her and her parents is $15,000, the cost of daily drug and alcohol testing, weekly counseling, bi-monthly trips to the court and probation office.

The judge, prosecutor, public defender, and others hold a meeting before each session. Offenders who meet the strict requirements get praise and prizes.

Those who don't meet the requirements can end up back in jail, which has critics like Denver DUI attorney Jay Tiftickjian concerned.

"It could lead to a much longer sentence down the road," Tiftickjian said.

Tiftickjian tells clients not to accept an offer of sobriety court. The offer is made during the first court appearance and defendants often get just one week to decide.

"There's pressure that is put on them. In order to properly defend, there is so much more information that we need to get and it's not going to happen in a week," Tiftickjian said.

Sobriety court supporters say the chance of success is better closer to the arrest.

"All defendants should be created equally," Tiftickjian said.

Tiftickjian is also concerned the prosecutor, not the judge, decides who gets into Sobriety Court. Amy Weichel is a public defender handling more than half the Sobriety Court cases, including Bauer's.

"These are people with serious addictions. [Bauer has] turned her life around. She's amazing," Weichel said.

Instead of drinking, Bauer is studying and working on a bachelor's degree in business.

"Everyday I'm learning something new. It was like going back to where I was 16 again," Bauer said.

Bauer got her GED, but never graduated high school. Sobriety court graduation is the first time Bauer will receive a diploma.

"Thank you for saving my life," said one graduate as she sobbed while accepting her diploma.

For each graduate, this was a hard road.

"I'm almost at two years clean and I wouldn't have been able to do it without this program," Bauer said.

Sobriety court graduation is really just the beginning. For an alcoholic, staying sober is a daily struggle.

For Bauer, the son she hasn't seen in 5 years keeps her going.

"Every day I go to work or I go to school, it's for him. Everyday I stay sober for him. I think about saying 'I was sick for a long time, and I apologize for walking out of your life.' Once I get everything done, I'm going for him," Bauer said.

Bauer has no legal parental rights and no money to hire a lawyer right now, so she doesn't know when she'll be able to see her son Khalil.

Sobriety court can handle around 300 people at any given time, a fraction of the 3,000 to 3,500 annual DUI arrests in Denver.

Eighty percent of those arrested for DUI are first time offenders and don't qualify for the program.

The program just expanded to include defendants from Denver and surrounding counties, making sobriety court available to more people.